By Colleen Hybl
Bell curves. Differentiation. The Transitive Property of Equality. Algebra. Codes. Numbers. If these words make total sense to you, then you may be like these leading ladies who love math and numbers. For them, mathematical terms make perfect sense, but love is an entirely different situation. For some of these ladies, love might as well be an undefined equation to be graphed, let alone a simple linear equation. Each of these adult books is about women who love numbers .
Statistician Minerva Dobbs knows all about odds and risks, but the one thing she does not like is to risk is her heart in Bet Me, opens a new window. Yet, that is what happens when she agrees to go on a date with Calvin Morrisey to help win a bet. What Cal and Min do not realize is that, no matter how unimaginable the odds were about their relationship, those numbers are changing to be more favorable toward the lasting power of their relationship.
Stella Lane also knows about power, or at least how it applies to variables and equations. N to the nth power, anyone? Stella is so successful at math that it has earned her plenty of money and promotions, yet she is stupefied by dating, and French kissing looks like a fish trying to clean another fish. In The Kiss Quotient, opens a new window, Stella decides the only way she will get good at kissing and dating is by learning from a professional, but this lesson yields some interesting results, including Stella thinking that love makes sense.
For Margot, numbers always make sense, from their use in her job as a World War I cryptographer to a deciphering a communication device from God. When tragedy strikes in The Number of Love, opens a new window, Margot discovers that numbers do not make sense anymore, and it seems God has stopped talking to her. Through this tragedy, intelligence agent Drake Elton tries to show Margot that her answers can be found using the heart, instead of just numbers.
Whether or not you personally love numbers, you may love these stories about women loving math—and the men in their lives.
